Pittman swoops for Gulls to see of Weymouth in friendly

Pittman pounced just two minutes into the second period to score what proved to be the decisive goal in front of a crowd of 528 at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Weymouth handed starts to striker Harry Baker and Midfielder Sean Stewart for the clash, as they again lined up in a 3-5-2 formation.

On this occasion, Calvin Brooks, who once again operated at right wing-back, took the captain’s armband.

Torquay named powerful striker Rory Fallon in their starting XI. The 35 year-old New Zealand international had been trialling with United and also has also featured for the visitors against Plymouth in pre-season.

The Terras’ first shot at goal came on five minutes when defender Callum Buckley got forward and saw his deflected effort fall into the gloves of Gulls’ keeper Ryan Clarke.

Brooks then surged down the right hand side and found Baker, who failed to hit the target from inside the area after being teed up.

Baker then ran on to a lofted through ball to gather ahead of Torquay’s Josh Gowling but the former Gillingham Town frontman shanked his effort in trying to lob the goalkeeper. That came just before Fallon headed inches wide at the other end.

Buckley then found striker Brandon Goodship for the home side on the half hour mark after Jake McCarthy drove forward, but Goodship’s effort was tame.

The Terras continued to have the better of the chances and it was Baker that looked to make something happen once again.

He picked the pocket of his defender on the right flank and found midfielder Josh Wakefield, who failed to keep his shot down on the angle.

National League Torquay still showed their threat in patches during the first half however.

Ben Young’s curling effort flew just wide from the edge of the box and ex-Terras’ loanee Jamie Reid volleyed wide after a corner was half cleared.

Just two minutes after the break, the Gulls then scored what proved to be the winner.

Striker Jon-Paul Pittman bundled his way on to a ball forward, flooring defender Toby Down in the process, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner past Terras’ keeper Mark Travers.

Travers was then on hand on two occasions in the space of a minute with 65 minutes gone to keep his side in the game.

Firstly, he pushed away an effort after Weymouth were caught napping at a free-kick.

The Republic of Ireland youth international then dived to his right shortly after to parry away a header from Torquay’s Yan Klukowski.

After a host of changes from the visitors, Weymouth came close to levelling the contest on 76 minutes.

A sweeping ball from Carmichael found Goodship, who surged into the box but failed to keep his effort down from an acute angle.

And, with a number of changes being make late on by the hosts, the Terras were left to settle for a 1-0 defeat.